Happy 50th Anniversary, Night of Dark Shadows

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And when I'd put together the graphic for Thursday -

- I'd used a crop of this rare still -

(Click here for a 700X541 version)
DS Movie Book caption: "Night: Alex (John Karlen) and Quentin
(David Selby) break into Charles' basement
tomb in deleted scene."

- from the lamentedly missing Scene 229 and which so far as I'm aware has only been published in a tiny version in The DS Movie Book...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And when I'd put together the graphic for Friday -

- I'd used a rare print of a not so rare still (though I eliminated Quentin's legs) -

 - a still that has been published so many times (in its print form on the right) that I'm not even going to list them, though here are a few captions:

TV Dawn to Dusk's CATCHING UP WITH...The Dark Shadows Cast caption reads: "Quentin (David Selby) finds the
skeleton of his former self, Charles Collins."

Original Motion Picture Sountracks booklet's caption reads: "Night Of Dark Shadows:
David Selby as Quentin Collins
in a deleted scene."

The Famous Monsters of Filmland caption reads: "Wouldn't you be scared out of your skin if you came upon your own skeleton from a previous life? Well,
that's the predicament Quentin is in as he discovers the mortal remains of himself when, in a past
existence, he was known as Charles Collins."

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And more rare material from Scene 229, starting with this -

- which appears as part of the Herald featured in the NoDS PressBook. I've always assumed that still is from Scene 229 and not Scenes 221 - 223, but we all know what they say about assuming. And if it is from the latter scenes, obviously I can't really say:

It's interesting to me that there are several stills of Quentin and Tracy from this sequence down in the basement, and there's this one of Tracy solo, but I've never come across any of Quentin solo.

But until such time as I discover otherwise, I'm going to continue to assume it comes from Scene 229. Though if I ever come across a numbered print of that still, which is something I've never seen, that could be a good clue as to which scene it may be from...

And then there's this behind the scenes still that Darren Gross shared on his NoDS Restoration Web site, and once again I'm sharing the caption as Darren wrote it -

Cinematographer Richard Shore, A.S.C. takes a light reading for the scene
where Quentin and Alex uncover Charles Collins' skeleton lying atop
Angelique's pine-wood coffin. (Photo courtesy Richard Shore.)

- and a tiny version of a different version appears in The DS Movie Book -

Night: Richard Shore positions skeleton.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you want to learn about or refresh your memory concerning the background of yesterday's first quote -

Page 106/Scene 230 - Quentin: 'I'm not sure I know what to do.'

- and/or yesterday's second quote -

Page 106/Scene 230 - Alex: 'Just do as we told you. If Angelique appears for anyone, it'll be you.'

- check out -

And now we begin to set up the seance sequence:

- this post...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And when I'd put together the first graphic that appeared on Saturday -

- I'd used a crop of this fairly rare still -

(Click here for a 700X560 version)

- a small version of which appears on page 181 of the DS Return To Collinwood book...

(Sadly I don't have any stills of John Karlen from the seance. If any exist, I've never come across them. That's why he wasn't featured for Saturday's second quote. But as will be seen in some upcoming graphics, I was able to feature him when it came to those by getting a screen grab from the seance footage in one of the NoDS trailers...)

 

[Uncle Roger]

The 1989 Collinsport Players skit, The Night Before, was structured around the scenes that were cut from the film. Unfortunately, while most fans were aware that a lot of stuff had been cut, very few had access to an unedited script. So, only a handful of the audience knew what came from the original script and what had just been made up. The Gregory scene was done, rather over the top but the audience ate it up. The seance scene didn't go over as well. The audience for the skits is expecting to laugh but the scene just doesn't come off as funny. I played Alex and, during the little hissy fit between Quentin and Alex, I adlibbed something that got quite a reaction from the crowd. "You wanna ask the spirits if there's an Emmy Ward in your future?"

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you want to learn about or refresh your memory concerning the background of today's quote -

Page 106/Scene 230 - Quentin: 'Is there anyone in this house who wishes to speak with us?...who has anything to say to us? We are here to listen to you...the psychic door is open for you to enter.'

- check out -

Picking up Scene 230 where we left off and dealing with the next scene:

- this post...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And the graphic that appeared yesterday is actually a new one - originally, as I alluded to back at the end of June, I'd cropped a still that is actually associated with Scene 220 because I wasn't sure of that fact and used it simply because there's a candle in it -

- but this time around I made this new graphic -

- with this pretty rare still -

(Click here for a 700X1042 version)

- which I've gotten a copy of in only the last year, and which appears on the back cover of the movies soundtrack CD -

- along with other cropped to head shots versions of some other stills that will look familiar because I've shared the original versions...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you want to learn about or refresh your memory concerning the background of today's quote -

Page 107/Scene 232 - Quentin (O.S.): 'We want to help whoever is in this house. That is all...we know you are troubled...'

- check out -

Picking up the seance sequence where we left off:

- this post...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I forgot to mention that yesterday's graphic, which was new, was a bit of a cheat. Because the script says -

232    INT - SECOND FLOOR - NIGHT                        232        as CAMERA CONTINUES TO TRUCK DOWN THE CORRIDOR        toward the gallery, the SOUND OF QUENTIN'S VOICE        can be heard.

- I wanted to find at least a shot at night of the Gallery entrance from the corridor. Unfortunately, there aren't any such shots in NoDS as the film currently stands. However, there is one in hoDS (when Todd comes out of his room to make his escape to go to Carolyn), so I used it -

- rather than repeating the graphic I normally use when -

- I don't have a still or can't finagle something from a part of the scene that actually is in the film. That graphic had already popped up for the seance as the second one on Saturday and it's going to show up again tomorrow, so I wanted to see if I could figure out something else so that it wouldn't show up three times in this same sequence...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you want to learn about or refresh your memory concerning the background of today's quote -

Page 107/Scene 233 - Quentin: 'I know you're here, Angelique. I know you're with us. Now you must listen. You must leave us alone. We know you were not a witch, that your death was unjust. We have found your bodies...yours and Charles'. We have buried them in holy ground.'

- check out -

Moving on to the next scene in the seance sequence:

- this post and to see a question I pose because to me this quote is quite possibly the most confusing bit of dialogue in the film...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you want to learn about or refresh your memory concerning the background of today's quote -

Page 107/Scene 233 - Angelique's voice: 'Come with me.'

- check out -

Picking up Scene 233 where we left off:

- this post and to see something that DC added to his script...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

A seance related article from the film's Press Packet, not to be confused with its Pressbook.

And that particular version was obviously released early on while the film was still Curse of Dark Shadows. And interestingly enough some of the articles for the film used passages from that article, particularly how unexplained raps ruined several takes (check out the NoDS article from Famous Monsters of Filmland attached in Reply #132)...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you want to learn about or refresh your memory concerning the background of today's quote -

Page 108/Scene 233 - Quentin (ignoring him): 'I am not Charles Collins. You do not love me. Let go of me. Your spirit is free to leave this house, never to return here where you have had such unhappiness. You and Charles must go...'

- check out -

Continuing along with Scene 233 after Angelique speaks to Quentin (with some of DC's additions added):

- this post and to learn about a notation DC made in his script...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you want to learn about or refresh your memory concerning the background of today's quote -

Page 108/Scene 233 - Quentin: 'Join each other in a world where there is no death or hatred. Go with my love. Go forever -- go -- go -- go.'

- check out -

Continuing along with Scene 233:

- this post...